Weekend preview: Crawfish and spring breakers

Ready for the weekend? The Coliseum Crawfish Music Festival kicks off this evening and there maybe another contingent of spring breakers cruising the beachfront this weekend.

You’ll find a host of carnival rides, music headliners, and, of course, mounds of crawfish beginning this evening and through Sunday and again next weekend for the Coliseum’s annual mudbug festival.

Meantime, traffic could be heavy along U.S. 90 as Biloxi Police brace for another weekend of spring breakers on and along U.S. 90.

“It’s probably going to be more of what we saw last week,” Police Chief John Miller said, referring to last week’s loosely organized “Black Beach Weekend,” which attracted nearly 5,000 people to the city, primarily on U.S. 90.

Said Miller: “We’re hoping everyone has a good time, is respectful of others, and keeps traffic moving in a safe and orderly fashion.”See the weekend lineup of events

Webcasting: Money issues and more

Chief Administrative Officer David Nichols discusses the issue of social service spending in this week’s City Desk webcast, and Fire Chief Joe Boney drops by to talk about plans for a big convention headed to Biloxi and other happenings in the Biloxi Fire Department. You’ll also hear about a special Easter Egg hunt coming up on the Town Green this weekend. The program will be posted at 7 this evening.Listen to the program See Biloxi’s social service spending

News and notes

Municipal holiday: Non-emergency municipal offices in Biloxi will be closed Friday in observance of Good Friday.

Easter egg hunt redux: Councilmember Dixie Newman shares a few photos from the city’s Easter egg hunt at Hiller Park. To see them, on the city’s Facebook page, click here.

Baseball in Birmingham: Councilmember Robert L. Deming III traveled — on his own dime, by the way – to Birmingham to see the Double A baseball park there. To see a Birmingham TV station’s report on the visit, click here.

No Development Report: There is no Development Report from the Community Development director this week.

Public Works honoree: Daphine Lizana, who parlayed a post-Katrina volunteer spot with the city into a fulltime position, has been named the Public Works Employee of the Month for April. Lizana is an assistant in the department’s Engineering Division and compiles the online Traffic column. Previous Employee of the Month honorees in Public Works are Willie Washington in February, and Norman Fowler in March.

Traffic Update: To see the comprehensive list of street and infrastructure improvement work underway throughout the city, as well as links to MDOT traffic cameras, click here.